


headed home

by ghostbeer



Category: Not Another D&D Podcast (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Moonshine POV, Once again a Crick love letter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26622889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostbeer/pseuds/ghostbeer
Summary: A tender lil Moonshine/Crick/Hardwon rumination
Relationships: Moonshine Cybin/Hardwon Surefoot
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	headed home

Moonshine was good with directions anywhere, but in the Crick she could get around with her eyes closed. She could tell where she was by the stars, the trees, the dirt under her feet. The journey to a secluded spot where she could test out new spells was long and wandering, but the way home wasn’t a worry. She and the Crick breathed in time; each of its nighttime hums was one of her heartbeats.

The ground was damp on her bare soles, but it centered her. It wasn’t so long ago, all things considered, that the Crick seemed like it was beyond saving. She touched a tree as she passed it. Its bark was healthy, sturdy; there was no sign that it had ever been withering and decayed. The whole Crick blazed with life, everything shining and dancing in the moonlight. This was how Moonshine thought of her home when she had been away. It was the part of her that shouted with joy, the part of her that felt powerful rage, the part of her that was boisterous and emotional and undeniably _alive_. To be here, walking in it in its proper state, after all that strife and pain, was a gift she could not express.

The water meandered slowly but noisily nearby, as was the way of most things here. She stopped by its bank to watch some nannerflies tango above it. The way their lights glinted off the surface made their number look doubled. She was reminded of soaring in the airship for the first time, high above the twinkling city. She thought of lanterns that cut through impenetrable mist. She thought of jewels in an underwater palace. She thought of shining blue words inside a mountain tunnel. Her memories glimmered in her head, and the nannerflies circled one another again.

She hadn’t expected to make it to this part, where everyone is happy and life is peaceful and things move leisurely again. When she left, she assumed either she or the Crick wouldn’t make it back, or maybe even both. Even after they rescued her home from the rot, she felt sure she wouldn’t be able to save herself. Her whole life had been about taking care of other folks, and she always felt like that was gonna mean sacrificing herself for it. For longer than she could remember, in the darkest part of her heart, that was her life plan. But instead of that, she was home. Everyone she loved was safe, the Crick was thriving with new and old life, and she had space to think of her own needs instead of everyone else’s for the first time.

And in this moment, what she wanted was to take the long way home. There weren’t exactly defined paths in the Crick. Folks from Moonshine’s neck of the woods just knew how to get around. She waded through some of the water’s shallower sections, cooling her legs in its current. She stopped to admire some new growth on a few summer-blossoming shrubs. She tossed some berries to chippermunks she spotted in a grove. Her pace was leisurely, and even though she didn’t recognize every leaf and every tree, she knew the Crick would always lead her home.

She followed the path of the water and eventually made it back to the edge of town. A couple folks hollered at her from their porches, and she waved back cheerily but with an absent mind. Her feet shuffled beneath her as she climbed up the steps at home and opened the door. She was surprised she left the lamps on, but before she could turn them off, a voice came from her left.

“Uhh, hey, Moonshine!”

She whipped around, shocked enough to actually jump a bit in place. Her hair stood on end, and blood pulsed in her ears; she was ready for a surprise, for another fight. But when her adrenaline faded, she realized she was staring right at Hardwon Surefoot. 

He looked at her a little confused from where he was sitting in her armchair, polishing a small weapon. Except—he wasn’t sitting in _her_ armchair; he was sitting in _his own_. Her head spun a little bit, and he started laughing at her. “You look like you saw a ghost,” he said.

She couldn’t help but smile back at him— _how did he always manage to make her smile in spite of herself?_ —but internally she was still reeling. She hadn’t walked to her stump at all. Lost inside her own head, she had walked straight into Hardwon’s without a second thought.

“You alright?” he asked, concern rising in his voice as he got up from sitting and set down his work. He moved toward her and tilted his head, his unbraided evening hair brushing his shoulders.

Moonshine blinked hard and snapped herself out of her surprise. “Oh, hey, Hardwon!” she said, trying to be as casual as possible. “Yeah, I’m alright! How’re you?” She was thankful he was not also an experienced druid because she was sure if he was, he would have been able to hear her heart thumping loudly.

He looked at her quizzically. She liked when he made that face. No matter how trivial or dire the situation was, you could count on Hardwon’s eyebrows coming together into one stern, highly confused line. His dark eyes were so serious, so determined. Moonshine could think of a number of Hardwon’s faults, but his passion was not one of them.

In fact, in the time since he had moved to the Crick, she noticed he was always particularly passionate when it came to her. When she asked for help with their first crawfish boil after they returned, he dropped everything and stayed by her side all day even though he had no idea what he was doing in the kitchen. And when she decided she wanted to set up a library, he stayed up hours past his trancetime to help her paint the signs. She even caught him around a campfire one evening with the youngins, telling them battle stories not of his own victories, but of hers. His eyes twinkled as he spoke, and she still remembered the way he blushed when he looked up and saw her standing nearby.

This time, though, it was Moonshine who was blushing. He cocked an eyebrow at her and said “I mean, I’m fine! What’s up? Do you need something?”

Moonshine was not a shy woman, but she felt her face get even hotter. “Uhh, nope! I just, well…” she trailed off, unsure herself of what happened and how to tell him. Hardwon, she knew, was not one for subtlety and signals, so he persisted in staring, puzzled. Moonshine sighed. “Honestly, Hardwon, I was walking home from a long day and I wasn’t thinking, and instead of actually going home, I came here.” She tried to make her face as blank as possible, but she felt certain there was traitorous red in her cheeks.

Hardwon’s face changed rapidly from confusion to shock to the smallest of grins. “Oh, okay,” was all he said.

They stood there, about two feet apart, heavy eye contact between the two of them, for what felt like forever. Moonshine took in his sturdy build, the marks of combat they fought side by side etched into his skin forever. She always noticed that when Hardwon stood still, he stood _still._ He didn’t rock from foot to foot or fiddle with his hands. The name he gave himself wasn’t just wordplay, it was truth. He was sure of foot. And in that moment, she realized she was sure of him.

“You want some coffee?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” she said. He nodded and moved to his small kitchen. She curled up on his couch and watched him move around easily, the sound of bullywugs and crickets and other critters coming in through his open windows. The water in his sink rushed, and his stove fire crackled, and he started chattering to her about his day teaching the neighbor kids how to use a hand ax, and to Moonshine it felt like home.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a friend, but why not add some more Hardshine to the world! xoxo


End file.
